


Paternoster Christmas

by Jenny_Vastra



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28296012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenny_Vastra/pseuds/Jenny_Vastra
Summary: Vastra, Jenny and Strax are celebrating Christmas Eve together, with presents, a tree and mistletoes.
Relationships: Jenny Flint/Madame Vastra
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Paternoster Christmas

„What is all this light, boy?”  
Strax grumbled as he entered the living room, glancing around at all the lights Jenny put up in the room. On the chimney she had hung a few way too big socks, Strax probably could fit his head in them and wear them as a ridiculously stupid human hat. Strax thought all of those lights unnecessary, a waste of energy he could use for recharging.  
“Tis decorations fer Christmas, Strax! Look! Pre’y, hm?”  
Jenny pointed at a crib with a proud smile on her face.  
“Made it meself!”  
Slowly the Sontaran nodded and crouched down to take a closer look, taking one of the tiny wooden figures into his hand and inspecting it closely. He let out a growling sound and took another figure, held them next to each other and shrugged.  
Angered by the way Strax reacted to her hard work, she placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head.  
“Wos wrong wif ‘em? Yer don’ like ‘em? Was hella work! Cut meself in me fingers a few times makin’ those… Bu’ thank yer… Fer no’ even any kind of compliment…”  
“Well, I do not know why you would put a bunch of wooden men in a… crib… They do look rather detailed, though. You did good work, boy.”  
He got back up and walked towards Jenny, reaching up to pinch her cheek. Jenny gave out a huff and glowered at Strax, not able to keep her smiles in for long, though. Celebrating Christmas with her family, her real family, Strax and Vastra, was the greatest gift she could ever wish for.  
“Thank yer, Strax… ‘ope the mistress ain’t mad becuz of all the lights…”  
Strax’ expression became confused, he looked round the room and then looked back at Jenny.  
“Why should she be? I am sure the Silurian will find great joy in lightening candles and a fire and warming herself up. Her tiny lizard brain will be overwhelmed by it all, though…”  
“Oi! Don’ yer dare insult Vastra’s brain! Or Vastra, on that matter!”  
Jenny complained and crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
“’nyways… Wanna be useful, Strax? Could need a lill ‘elp wif puttin’ up sum stuff… Tree ain’t decorated either…”  
Without waiting for any response, Jenny handed Strax a box full of Christmas ornaments of different sizes. The Sontaran blinked a few times and took one of the silver stars out.  
“What… Is that?”  
“Tis decorations fer the tree! Strax! We’ve bin doin’ tis fer years!”  
“No, we haven’t. You and your madame always sent me away, claiming I would break something.”  
Jenny fell quiet and thought back. Indeed, they had sent Strax away the past few years, but this year they decided Strax was old and responsible enough to at least leave the tree alone, not wanting to destroy it with one of his weapons.  
“Oh! Speaking of Madame, where is she? Shouldn’t she be here?”  
“’nspector Cotton brought ‘er a case tis mornin’, sayin’ ‘t was urgent… She looked a’ it an’ solved it… Wasn’t too difficult, she said… Incompetent police men, I’m tellin’ ya… She’s on ‘er way to Sco’land Yard wif it. Chidin’ ‘im fer ‘is be’aviour… Bringin’ a file in on Christmas Eve…”  
Jenny shook her head and took the box from Strax’ hands again, placed it down in front of the tree and started decorating it. Strax stood there, his eyes wandering from the box to the tree and back again. He scratched his nose and slowly came closer.  
“Can I… Help?”  
“Yeah, of course! Jus’ take one of the stars, an’ ‘ang ‘em onto the tree. Like… tis…”  
She picked up one of the stars, fiddled a little with the string and then hung it up on one of the tree’s branches. After carefully observing what exactly Jenny had done, the Sontaran picked up a star, twisted and tangled the string and then stared at it. He had tangled the string more than it was before, and now his fingers weren’t small enough to untangle it again.  
“’ere, lemme ‘elp…”  
Jenny mumbled and carefully untied the mess Strax had made. She handed it to him again and nodded.  
“Now pu’ it on the tree, Strax…”  
Quietly he did so and let out a loud “HA!” afterwards. His pride about the first star he ever put on a Christmas tree was reflecting on his face. When taking the next ornament, he accidentally tangled the strings again and handed it to Jenny with a pleading face, something Jenny never thought she would see.  
“Aight… Wot ‘bout tis… I untangle all the strings an’ yer pu’ ‘em up on the tree…”  
“Yes! I do like this! Good idea, Miss Jenny!”  
So, Jenny sat down on the floor, untangling all the stars’ strings, and handing them to Strax one by one. Strax then put them up, sometimes staring at the tree lost in thought to choose where to put the next ornament.

While Strax and Jenny were busy, Vastra had visited Scotland Yard, brought them a complaint about her having to work on Christmas Eve, and left with the threat to hurt whoever dared bring her another file in the next week.  
Quite content with the response that she wouldn’t be disturbed in her peace, she left and was now wandering through the streets, looking for a present for her wife. Vastra still didn’t fully understand the customs of humans and why they only gave on this specific day of the year, but she was sure of one thing: Jenny would be overjoyed by a present by Vastra.  
So she strolled through the streets, passing by dozens of little market stalls selling different kinds of goods, most of them Christmas themed.  
In front of a small stall she came to a halt and gazed at the beautiful goods the young woman behind the stall was selling.  
“Searching for a gift for a loved one, Miss?”  
“Madame. And yes…”  
“Oh, I’m sorry… Madame… So… What does he like?”  
Vastra let out a slight hiss and pulled back. The woman assuming she would have a husband rather than a wife was something she still couldn’t understand. How could humans be so blind, so ignorant towards any kind of love they didn’t comprehend?  
“She.”  
The lizard spit out and glared at the woman in front of her through her veil, piercing her with her blue eyes. Then, a little smile appeared on her lips, waiting for the woman’s reaction. Her startled face was definitely worth it, the Silurian thought.  
“Oh, I’m sorry, Madame! I just assumed you-… What does she like, then?”  
Now with a more content smile Vastra leaned over and inspected some of the things closer. Many hair ornaments, seemingly gold, but the price indicated it rather being copper or any other material that had been gilded.  
The tiny candleholders were pretty, but Vastra didn’t see much use in them, considering they already had a lot of those, and the fires in the chimneys always lighting and heating the rooms. With a sigh she put it back down and threw a short glance over the rest of the goods, shaking her head, already wanting to leave.  
The young woman let her head sink and looked to the ground as Vastra sighed. She brought her cold hands up to her mouth and blew on them, hoping it would warm her up a little.  
“You are cold.”  
Vastra, who had watched the woman through her veil, stated and fumbled in one of her pockets. Gloves. She owned quite a few pairs, always carrying two pairs, should her gloves get damped. She didn’t want her hands to freeze off. But she’d head home in just a few minutes and there she could warm up.  
“Take these. They will keep you warm…”  
With a smile she handed the black gloves to the woman behind the stall. Her eyes went wide when she saw the quality of the gloves, they must have been expensive. With a shake of her head she now spoke.  
“No, I can’t accept those… They must be of great value; I could never accept such a noble gift…”  
“Take them. They will keep your hands from freezing off.”  
Vastra hesitated, and then took the woman’s hand, carefully putting the gloves on her hands. Even though she wanted to protest at first, Vastra continued and shushed her a few times.  
“Here we go. It is… Christmas. And they are a gift.”  
“Thank you… You are possibly the nicest person I’ve ever met… Please, choose something… In return…”  
“No, I… I couldn’t-…”  
“Of course you can… It’s Christmas…”  
Vastra shook her head, thanked her for the offer and took a few steps in another direction, when her eyes fell on a beautiful wooden calligraphy pen. The golden emblem had space for something to be coined in.  
“Do… Do you like it? I could personalise it! Write… A name or a quote on it… It would take a little, but…”  
“I will take this… It’s beautiful… I’m sure Jenny will like it… How much does it cost?”  
“Nothing for you… It’s free…”  
Vastra crossed her arms and shook her head.  
“No, I can’t just take it. Let me pay you… How much… Hm…”  
Quickly she took some money (quite a lot of money, actually) out of her pocket and handed in the lady. She gave her what she assumed such a pen would be worth, it was more than it actually was, of course, but Vastra didn’t care. Jenny and her were living in great wealth while on the streets millions of people were starving and dying.  
Couldn’t she do a good deed without being questioned for it? With her money being accepted? The person thanking her with a warm smile and words…  
“Take the money. Please.”  
“But that’s way too-…”  
Vastra shushed her again and shrugged.  
“It’s Christmas.”  
She had often heard humans use phrases like this as excuses for certain acts, so she decided to try it herself, not thinking it would actually work. But to her surprise, the woman just nodded and responded.  
“It’s Christmas… What would you like me to write on the emblem?”  
“Could you… Just write her name?”  
The woman nodded, took the pen, but then she hesitated, looked up at Vastra and down at the pen again.  
“What is her name?”  
“Jenny… Jenny Flint…”  
“Beautiful name… Anything else? I… I could write “For Jenny Flint, from…” What is your name, Madame?”  
Vastra’s eyes started glowing at the thought of that, and she nodded eagerly.  
“Yes, please. My name is Vastra. Madame Vastra.”  
The woman waggled her head and wrote it down on a piece of paper.  
“I will be finished in about half an hour, Madame.”  
“Thank you.”  
Vastra replied and strolled off to pass the time until her present was ready. The thought alone of Jenny’s smiling face was enough to warm her insides up a little, keeping her from freezing due to the cold weather.

“We’ve finished the tree, Strax! Look! Ain’t it beau’iful!?”  
Jenny sat in front of the big tree, gazing up at it with big cheerful eyes, her hand playing with one of the stars on one of the lower branches. Strax was standing next to her, admiring their work as well. But something was missing…  
“Let me get something in order to finish our decorations…”  
“T’s jus’ the angel on top missin’… But neither yer nor me are big enough… Gotta wait till the ma’am comes back…”  
“Oh, I got something else to decorate the tree.”  
Strax exclaimed and left. A few minutes passed, and when he came back, he had a bunch of grenades in his hands. Jenny jumped and blocked the Sontaran’s way to the tree.  
“Strax! We ain’t pu’in’ grenades on a tree! There’s candles on there! t’ll explode!”  
“Good!”  
“NO! ‘and ‘em over!”  
Jenny held her hands out demandingly, staring at Strax, a stern look on her face. Although he complained more or less quietly, he eventually handed them over and kicked Jenny’s shin afterwards. Maniacally laughing he ran out, leaving the now cursing human alone.  
“Strax, I swear imma kill yer! Come back ‘ere, yer idiot potato!”  
She followed Strax into the hallway, but then she shook her head and returned to the living room. It was no use following a Sontaran who was on his way to his weapons, and Jenny had more important things to do.  
First, she had to get rid of Strax’ grenades, and then she had to put up a little surprise for Vastra. So she made her way to Strax’ armoury, Strax was playing in the yard, possibly terrorizing the horses, and put his grenades in one of the boxes there.  
After, she went up to her room and opened the door of her nightstand to pull out a few mistletoes. With a wide grin she grabbed a fancy red ribbon and went back downstairs. There she pulled a chair close to the doorframe of the living room and put one of the mistletoes up there. With a smug grin she got back down and went on to put mistletoes up in all the other doorframes, and eventually even in the doorframe of the entry.  
Content with her work she sat down in front of the fireplace, lighting a fire to warm the room up properly. Vastra should be back soon, it was already getting dark outside.

A soft knock on the front door let Jenny look up. With a glance at the clock she got up and opened the door. A tall, veiled figure was standing in front of her, hands behind her back.  
“Yer back, me darlin’!”  
Jenny reached up and flipped Vastra’s veil back. The familiar green scales were a bit paler than normal; Jenny bit her lip. Quickly she pulled Vastra down, both her hands on her wife’s cheeks, and placed her lips on the lizard’s cold lips.  
“What was that for, my love? Not out here… What if someone sees us?”  
“t’s dark… Look…”  
With a wide smile Jenny pointed up at the mistletoe, Vastra’s eyes wandered upwards and she tilted her head.  
“What is this, my love? Is this some ape Christmas tradition?”  
“Yeah! Yer put up a mistletoe, an’ when yer standin’ underneath it, yer ‘ave to give ‘oever’s standin’ under it wif yer a kiss…”  
Her cheeks flustered a little and she pulled Vastra inside, closing the doors behind them. Jenny could see Vastra place a little case down on the drawer, and when the young woman wanted to step closer and touch it, the Silurian immediately hissed at her and shook her head. With a grin Jenny shrugged and took the gloves off Vastra’s hands, taking her wife’s cold fingers into her own to warm them up a little bit.  
“So, ‘ad a nice ev’nin’?”  
“As did you, decorating all of Paternoster Row, draining it in unnecessary amounts of lights, my sweet… I like it… And… It’s wonderfully warm inside…”  
Vastra chuckled and got out of her cloak, then turning around to face Jenny, and immediately nuzzling into her chest.  
“You are so warm, my dearest…”  
Jenny placed her hands on Vastra’s back and slowly ran them up and down her wife’s spine, feeling a slight shiver against her body.  
“We should get Strax and some warm tea and sit down in the living room together, my dearest…”  
The lizard suggested and, even though clearly not wanting to, left Jenny’s side and went to the yard to call Strax in.

Jenny was already waiting for them in the living room, she had put a few presents under the Christmas tree, one for Vastra and one for Strax. Quickly she lightened all the candles on the tree and waited for her wife and their butler to arrive.  
Identifying the presents wasn’t too hard, Strax’ present was basically some weapon he wouldn’t stop talking about, and Jenny put a red ribbon on it to make it look a little nicer. Vastra’s present was much smaller, it was a diary.  
While strolling through the streets Jenny was torn to a small shop, and when she saw the book in the window, the first thing she thought about was Vastra. Two lizards were depicted on the cover, surrounded by flowers and trees, and next to them sat a beautiful girl with a scaring amount of resemblance to Jenny. Long brown hair, dark eyes, glancing at the lizards lovingly, a book in her hands. Jenny went in to buy it, and when the vendor asked who it was for, what inscription Jenny would like to have on the first page, she requested to have “to my beloved Vastra” written. It was tempting to let him write “To my beloved wife Vastra”, but the way he raised his eyebrows and looked her up and down, the way he questioned her not one but three times if she was sure this was what she wanted to have, she told him to write exactly what she had ordered. With a shake of his head he got out a wonderful calligraphy pen and wrote “to my beloved Vastra” in neat, cursive letters. Content with his work, Jenny paid him and went outside, hearing him curse at her quietly. Anger arose in her, she wanted to tell him how she felt, how wrong it was what he was doing. Remembering Vastra’s words about men and about how humans tended to adjudge all different from their own beliefs, she slammed the door behind her and walked away, back home to her safe home.  
As she was staring into the mid-distance, Jenny didn’t even realise Vastra and Strax had come in, not until Vastra sat down next to her in front of the fire and nudged her a little with one of her crests.  
“Jenny, my love… What’s wrong? It’s Christmas… Isn’t it usually a period of celebrating and joy for you ap-… humans?”  
Jenny looked up, slowly turning her head towards Vastra, then a smile curled her lips and she nodded.  
“T is… Was jus’…. Thinkin’ ‘bout sumthin’… But it ain’t important or ‘nythin’…”  
“So! Shall we burn the tree now??”  
Strax asked and pulled out a flame thrower, aiming at the beautifully decorated tree already.  
Both, Vastra and Jenny, got up immediately and shook their heads in unison.  
“Strax! You will not burn the tree Jenny spent so much time decorating with!”  
“Yer can’t jus’ burn wotever yer like!”  
Gladly, Strax lowered his weapon and tried to grimace a pouting face, Jenny and Vastra stared at each other in horror. Never before had they seen the Sontaran look so… innocent yet so disturbing at the same time. And considering them living with one for quite some time now, this was truly an achievement.  
“Your boy and I decorated the tree together!”  
“Did you?”  
Vastra asked and glanced at the tree, a satisfied nod. She took the flame thrower from Strax’ hands and placed him down in the hallway. When stepping back in, she noticed the mistletoe above her head. With a grin she stopped, gazing at Jenny across the room.  
“Right! Only thing missin’ is the angel on top… Maybe Vastra can-… Vastra?”  
Jenny looked at her, one eyebrow raised in confusion. The Silurian was patiently standing in the doorway, slowly wiggling her head, and licking her lips.  
“Wot yer doin’t there-?”  
In this moment Jenny realised what Vastra was playing. She had picked up the mistletoe tradition surprisingly quickly, it appeared. Well, possibly mostly because she had something to gain from this, more kisses from her wife.  
With a sigh she walked over and glanced up at Vastra, loving blue eyes meeting her own. Slowly the Silurian leaned down and connected their lips, holding Jenny close the whole time while Jenny’s arms slowly wandered up to her neck and crossed there.  
“I must admit, I rather like this ape tradition, my sweet…”  
“Yeah, becuz yer get kisses out of it, hu?”  
Jenny replied and gave her wife a grin, she enjoyed this more than she thought.  
“Are you going to spend the whole evening smooching? Then I will go and clean my weapons… Some of them are filthy because of the human scum I disposed of last week…”  
“Yer stayin’! We got presents!”  
Jenny kneeled down in front of the big tree and reached for the presents, careful not to set fire to her hair. While she was busy getting the presents from under the tree, she eventually decided to blow some of the candles to make sure she was safe, Vastra walked back into the hallway and came back with the little box she had brought home.  
“Strax, tis fer yer… ‘ope yer… Ugh… Like it… Please don’ use it inside…”  
The young woman mumbled while handing him his present, the Sontaran’s eyes went wide.  
“Does… Does it explode???”  
“No! Strax! We’ve talk’d ‘bout tis!”  
“Oh…”  
A disappointed sigh came from the Sontaran as he sat down on the floor, admiring his present, and although easily being identified as a weapon, Strax sat there for a few minutes admiring it.  
“Oh, so shiny! So new! I bet it will love to kill its first enemy! What will it be? An earthling male trying to steal? A murderer? ...”  
He rambled on and on, Jenny just shook her head and turned to Vastra, a slight blush colouring her cheeks.  
“Vastra… Tis… Fer yer… Merry Christmas… ‘ope tis useful!”  
The lizard’s eyes went wide at the sight of the gift, her cheeks turning dark green. She reached for the present in Jenny’s hands and before opening it, she set it on a table and held out her own present.  
“Jenny, my dearest love… I… I saw this and… wanted to give it to you, as an sign of endearment… Of… Of my love for you… I… I hope you can find use for it as well… My love… Merry Christmas…”  
With that she handed her wife the case and eagerly waited for her to open it, noticing Jenny’s expression was mirroring her own. They both started laughing and together they started opening their presents, slowly, careful not to rip the wrapping paper.  
When Jenny opened the case, she found a beautiful pen in it, having “From Vastra to Jenny Flint” written on it. Tears of happiness started filling her eyes and when they ran down her cheeks, she pulled Vastra into an embrace and silently cried into her shoulder.  
“Jenny-… Do… Do you not like it?? I… I didn’t mean to upset you, my dear, I-…”  
“I luv it! An’ I luv yer! Yer… the best wife sumone could wish fer…”  
Quickly she wiped her tears away and gave Vastra a reassuring smile. The Silurian’s expression became soft again, and she turned back to unwrapping her gift. Her eyes went wide as she saw the cover of the diary, holding it up and comparing the girl on the cover to Jenny, letting her fingers trail across it, across the flowers, the trees, the two lizards, and the girl looking so similar to her wife.  
“I-… I… She looks like you… And… Lizards…”  
Vastra stumbled and opened the book, her eyes widening even more at the sight of the inscription.  
“Jenny… You… I… This… I… I love it… Thank you…”  
Her green scales darkened even more when she gently pulled Jenny close and placed soft kisses on her lips, again and again, then resting her forehead against Jenny’s.  
“Thank you… I’m… Sure we could use your pen and… and my diary together… Couldn’t we?”  
“We could… Thank yer fer the pen again…. Tis beautiful… Jus’… Jus’ like yer…”  
A loud annoyed sigh came from the Sontaran sitting just a few inches away.  
“You are going to smooch for the rest of the evening again… I will go and test my new weapon now… Thank you for equipping me with another beautiful yet deadly weapon, boy, madame!”  
With that he left the room, heading out into the yard once more.  
Vastra had only glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and now that he was gone her eyes wandered back to Jenny’s, getting lost in them for a little.  
“Well, my dearest… I think… We do have some more mistletoes to visit…”  
A smug grin on her face, Vastra got up and held her hand out for Jenny to take, pulling her wife to her feet.  
“We really ‘ave, me luv…”  
“Let’s start, then… My Jenny…”


End file.
